Title: An act relating to publications of the statute law committee.

Brief Description: Revising the statute law committee's publication authority.

Sponsors: Representatives Goodman and Priest; by request of Statute Law Committee.

Brief History: Passed House: 2/28/07, 96-1.

Committee Activity: Judiciary: 3/28/07, 3/30/07 [DPA, w/oRec].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Majority Report: Do pass as amended.Signed by Senators Kline, Chair; Tom, Vice Chair; McCaslin, Ranking Minority Member; Carrell, Hargrove, Murray and Weinstein.

Minority Report: That it be referred without recommendation.Signed by Senator Roach.

Staff: Lidia Mori (786-7755)

Background: The Statute Law Committee (SLC) is responsible for compiling and printing a number of publications, including the session laws and the Washington State Register (Register). The session laws consist of all the bills that were enacted into law during the legislative session and initiatives adopted by the people in the preceding year. The SLC is required to have published and bound, within 75 days after adjournment of session, as many copies of the session laws as may be necessary. The SLC distributes free copies of the session laws to designated persons and entities. Surplus copies of the session laws may be sold by the SLC for a price that covers costs. Monies received from the sale of the session laws are deposited into the General Fund.

The Register is a biweekly publication distributed on the first and third Wednesday of each month. It includes a variety of information relating to the activities of state government, including notices of proposed rules, emergency and permanently adopted rules, public meetings of state agencies, notices of rules review, executive orders and emergency declarations of the Governor, court rules adopted but not yet published, summary of Attorney General opinions, juvenile disposition standards, and the state maximum interest rate.

The Register must be made available in written form and free of charge to certain governmental officials, the Legislature, county boards of law libraries, and to the Olympia representatives of the Associated Press and United Press International. Other persons may purchase the Register for a price fixed by the Code Reviser.

County law libraries are required to maintain complete sets of the Register for public use and inspection.

Summary of Bill: Monies received from the sale of surplus copies of the session laws are paid into the Statute Law Committee Publication Account, rather than the General Fund.

The SLC may publish the Register exclusively by electronic means on the Code Reviser website if the SLC determines that public access will not be substantially diminished, and the electronic copy must be considered the official copy of the Register. If the SLC decides to publish the Register exclusively by electronic means, county law libraries may satisfy their requirement of maintaining the Register for inspection by providing on-site access to the Register, and written copies of the Register will not be required to be provided to those entities currently entitled to them. A few changes are made to the language in the laws relating to the Register to accommodate the potential change to exclusive electronic publication of the Register. In addition, the reference to the Olympia representatives of the Associated Press and United Press International is changed to the Olympia Press Corps.

EFFECT OF CHANGES MADE BY RECOMMENDED AMENDMENT(S) AS PASSED COMMITTEE (Judiciary): The code reviser is required to provide a paper copy of any issue of the register upon request. A reasonable fee may be charged for printing and mailing.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: No.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: This bill brings the code reviser office into the 21st century. The bill will also save money. There will be training available on how to use the electronic version of the register. The end result of this bill will be better access for less.

Persons Testifying: PRO: Representative Goodman, prime sponsor; Kyle Thiessen, Code Reviser.